A Dry White Season
Encyclopedia
A Dry White Season is a film released in 1989 by Davros Films and Sundance Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Euzhan Palcy
and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay
was by Colin Welland
and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink
's novel of the same name. Robert Bolt
also contributed uncredited revisions of the screenplay.
The film, which was the first major Hollywood studio film with a black, female director, stars Donald Sutherland
, Janet Suzman
, Zakes Mokae
, Jürgen Prochnow
, Susan Sarandon
and Marlon Brando
(who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
). It is set in South Africa
, and deals with the subject of apartheid.
, during the Apartheid system that lasted from 1948 until 1994.
The story begins when a gardener at Ben's school, a black man named Gordon, seeks his help while investigating the death of his son during the Riots. Like many South African whites, Ben refuses to get involved in the racial divides that have been tearing the country apart, thinking that Gordon's claims against the white minority government are unfounded. Things change when Ben sees firsthand the brutality by his own race against blacks, particularly when he sees the dead body of Gordon at the morgue not long after being tortured at the hands of the secret, corrupt government police. Gordon's wife, Emily, is also killed later, and also under suspicious circumstances.
Upset by this turn of events, Ben retains Ian Mackenzie (Marlon Brando), a human rights attorney, to assist him with the case. Ben's political awakening is so complete by this time that his crusade to bring those responsible for the deaths of Gordon and his family members eventually take their toll on his own family. Eventually, Ben Du Toit pays the ultimate price for standing up to a corrupt government for basic human rights and equality.
Director Euzhan Palcy was so passionate about creating an accurate portrayal on film that she traveled to Soweto undercover, posing as a recording artist, to research the riots. Actor Brando was so moved by Palcy's commitment to social change that he came out of a self-imposed retirement to play the role of the human rights lawyer; he also agreed to work for union scale ($4,000), far below his usual fee. The salaries of Sutherland and Sarandon were also reduced and the film was budgeted at only $9 million.
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios
, Buckinghamshire
, England
and on location in Zimbabwe
.
Brink's novel, on which the movie was based, was the first book in Afrikaans
to be banned in South Africa (in 1979). The film itself was initially banned by South African censors, who said it could harm President F.W. de Klerk's attempts at apartheid reform. The ban was later lifted in September 1989 and the movie was screened at the Weekly Mail Film Festival in Johannesburg
.
Brando's performance in the movie earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he received the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo Film Festival. For her outstanding cinematic achievement, Palcy received the "Orson Welles Award" in Los Angeles.
reports that 91% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10. Brando, in his first film since 1980, was particularly praised for his small but key role as human rights attorney Ian Mackenzie.
Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert
called A Dry White Season "an effective, emotional, angry, subtle movie." The Washington Post' s Rita Kempley wrote that "A Dry White Season is political cinema so deeply felt it attains a moral grace. A bitter medicine, a painful reminder, it grieves for South Africa as it recounts the atrocities of apartheid. Yes, it is a story already told on a grander scale, but never with such fervor." And Rolling Stones Peter Travers wrote that director Palcy, "a remarkable talent, has kept her undeniably powerful film ablaze with ferocity and feeling."
Euzhan Palcy
Euzhan Palcy is a film director writer and producer from Martinique, French West Indies. She is notable for being the first black female director produced by a major Hollywood studio , for A Dry White Season; as well as being the only female filmmaker who directed Marlon Brando .- Early life and...
and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was by Colin Welland
Colin Welland
Colin Welland is a British actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire ,,,....
and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
's novel of the same name. Robert Bolt
Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...
also contributed uncredited revisions of the screenplay.
The film, which was the first major Hollywood studio film with a black, female director, stars Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
, Janet Suzman
Janet Suzman
Dame Janet Suzman, DBE is a South African-born-British actress and director.-Early life:Janet Suzman was born in Johannesburg to a Jewish family, the daughter of Betty and Saul Suzman, a wealthy importer of tobacco....
, Zakes Mokae
Zakes Mokae
Zakes Makgona Mokae was a South African-born American actor.-Life and career:Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging...
, Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...
, Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
and Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
(who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
). It is set in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and deals with the subject of apartheid.
Plot
In A Dry White Season, Donald Sutherland portrays the character of Ben Du Toit, a South African school teacher. The story takes place in 1976, around the Soweto RiotsSoweto riots
The Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16, was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto, in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of...
, during the Apartheid system that lasted from 1948 until 1994.
The story begins when a gardener at Ben's school, a black man named Gordon, seeks his help while investigating the death of his son during the Riots. Like many South African whites, Ben refuses to get involved in the racial divides that have been tearing the country apart, thinking that Gordon's claims against the white minority government are unfounded. Things change when Ben sees firsthand the brutality by his own race against blacks, particularly when he sees the dead body of Gordon at the morgue not long after being tortured at the hands of the secret, corrupt government police. Gordon's wife, Emily, is also killed later, and also under suspicious circumstances.
Upset by this turn of events, Ben retains Ian Mackenzie (Marlon Brando), a human rights attorney, to assist him with the case. Ben's political awakening is so complete by this time that his crusade to bring those responsible for the deaths of Gordon and his family members eventually take their toll on his own family. Eventually, Ben Du Toit pays the ultimate price for standing up to a corrupt government for basic human rights and equality.
Cast
- Donald SutherlandDonald SutherlandDonald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
as Ben du Toit - Janet SuzmanJanet SuzmanDame Janet Suzman, DBE is a South African-born-British actress and director.-Early life:Janet Suzman was born in Johannesburg to a Jewish family, the daughter of Betty and Saul Suzman, a wealthy importer of tobacco....
as Susan du Toit - Zakes MokaeZakes MokaeZakes Makgona Mokae was a South African-born American actor.-Life and career:Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging...
as Stanley Makhaya - Jürgen ProchnowJürgen ProchnowJürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...
as Captain Stolz - Susan SarandonSusan SarandonSusan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
as Melanie Bruwer - Marlon BrandoMarlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
as Ian McKenzie - Winston NtshonaWinston NtshonaWinston Ntshona is a South African playwright and actor.Born in Port Elizabeth, Ntshona worked alongside fellow South African Athol Fugard on several occasions and played a minor role in Richard Attenborough's acclaimed film Gandhi....
as Gordon Ngubene - Leonard MaguireLeonard MaguireLeonard Maguire was a Scottish actor. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Maguire had a long career, beginning in the 1940s. He died in 1997, aged 73, after a lengthy illness.-Career:...
as Bruwer - Susannah HarkerSusannah HarkerSusannah Harker is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She is the daughter of English actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens, and the great-niece of Gordon Adams. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 1990 for her role as Mattie Storin in House of Cards...
as Suzette du Toit
Production
Before production, Warner Brothers passed on the project and it went to MGM.Director Euzhan Palcy was so passionate about creating an accurate portrayal on film that she traveled to Soweto undercover, posing as a recording artist, to research the riots. Actor Brando was so moved by Palcy's commitment to social change that he came out of a self-imposed retirement to play the role of the human rights lawyer; he also agreed to work for union scale ($4,000), far below his usual fee. The salaries of Sutherland and Sarandon were also reduced and the film was budgeted at only $9 million.
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and on location in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
.
Reception
The film was released at a time when South Africa was undergoing great political upheaval and regular demonstrations.Brink's novel, on which the movie was based, was the first book in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
to be banned in South Africa (in 1979). The film itself was initially banned by South African censors, who said it could harm President F.W. de Klerk's attempts at apartheid reform. The ban was later lifted in September 1989 and the movie was screened at the Weekly Mail Film Festival in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
Brando's performance in the movie earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he received the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo Film Festival. For her outstanding cinematic achievement, Palcy received the "Orson Welles Award" in Los Angeles.
Box office
A Dry White Season earned $3.8 million in the United States, against a budget of $9 million.Critical reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 91% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10. Brando, in his first film since 1980, was particularly praised for his small but key role as human rights attorney Ian Mackenzie.
Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called A Dry White Season "an effective, emotional, angry, subtle movie." The Washington Post
External links
- A Dry White Season at Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Movie stills
- A Dry White Season discussion of novel by Andre Brink discusses on the BBC World Book ClubWorld Book ClubWorld Book Club is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public...